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miller 252

01-09-2013, 01:25 PM

I currently work in a production shop primarily working with .25-.50 mild steel. Our shop has a millermatic 252. I'm having trouble with the machine constantly blowing back the wire into the tip when I strike an arc. The other issue I'm having is the wire not feeding smoothly while I'm welding. I can feel the wire in the lead rubbing and catching. I've replaced the liner and still had the same results. It's annoying when welding pipe and my welds have to pass pressure and dye tests and in constantly having to stop because the welder is having issues. Does anyone know what the problem is? I don't think the welder can handle the load but my bosses ( who aren't Welders) won't listen to me.

Comment

Does it act up when 1st start welding? And does it get worse longer u weld.
Last year I started welding thicker steel with the 252 had same problem. LWS thought I was pushing Michine to limit but more so the cable & gun. I think that came with 150 or 200 amp gun, not sure. I was considering up grading anyway, so I bought the 350-P and it came with larger gun. Awesome Michine, can run it all day 200 amps or more and smooth as silk :-)
May try upgrading complete gun & cable to larger size. Also if they wont spring for a new gun assembly may try replacing liner with one size over your wire, I've done that before.
Hope it helps. Just a thought.

Comment

Had a similar problem lately running .035 wire in 2 of my welders. I had been running .045 for quite some time, but switched back to .035 due to different jobs coming into the shop. Welder would do the same thing. Turns out I was running .045-.068 liners and the wire would zig zag inside the liner. Swapped in a new liner, and the same thing. Swapped to a Miller branded liner for .035 and no problems since.

Comment

Yeah I've checked the liner ad replaced it to make sure it is the correct size. I'm running 35 wire an using the original gun. I've replaced it with a tweco and the roughneck and still have the same issue of blow back when starting a weld. I think it can't handle the amount of work. When welding flanges on 14 inch pipe I get halfway around and it really starts to sputter and spit the wire out causin me to have to stop. My tip is recessed back where it needs to be and I've also gone up a size. Nothing works. It's almost 3 years old and acted like this from day one. At this point I'm going to try and put together a case for buying a new welder. My bosses aren Welders and rarely listen to me because I lack a college degree. Anyone have any pointers or info to back me up in my case I take to the bosses?

Comment

No matter how good or bad a welder is he can't put out quality work with out proper equipment working as it was designed.
Quality should be 1st priority, but they realy need to consider all your down time stoping, fixing your work let alone time working on welder. A new or properly repaired welder will shortly pay for it's self with you welding all day instead of repairing.

Comment

I just bought a miller 252. I set it up the way miller says too I watched there video. the problem I am having is after a few welds it will stop and go real quick while I weld. what could that be. do I need to adjust the run in settings? I set the wire tension the way miller recommends too. im running .035 wire with c02. its not maxing out the unit is it? welding 11g through 1/2? any thoughts